Waldorf Astoria, union reach $149 million deal for severance payouts
Source: Boston Globe
By Julie Satow
NEW YORK — When a Chinese insurance firm bought the Waldorf Astoria Hotel for $1.95 billion this year, it said it planned to convert part of the aging building into high-end condominiums, while maintaining a smaller five-star hotel.
Standing in its way were the hotel’s 1,221 union workers, whose jobs were protected by the Waldorf Astoria’s contract with the New York Hotel and Motel Trades Council, a union that represents hotel workers.
Now, the owners of the Waldorf, New York’s largest union hotel employer, have reached a record deal with the union in which the hotel could pay almost $149 million in severance packages to its employees over the next two years. The average payout will be more than $142,000, with a handful of employees eligible for more than $300,000. One longtime worker is walking away with $656,409.68.
“It is a great deal,” said Peter Ward, head of the Trades Council. “There are people of retirement age, hundreds of them, that are getting over $200,000 in severance.”
FULL story at link.
Read more: http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2015/06/26/waldorf-astoria-union-reach-million-deal-for-severance-payouts/i1p9zLu7QKfts7pWOrThCM/story.html#
This will piss off the anti-union crowd!
= new reply since forum marked as read
Always good to piss off the anti union crowd.
Great news!
